Vij's Restaurant

That's right, I'm doing a restaurant. A relatively well-known and pretty highly rated Indian Restaurant, called Vij's. My plan for this review is do more than just provide brief commentary on the food. I am going to catalogue the whole experience, starting from when I first arrived to the moment I walk out the door.

(HEADS UP: I tried to get pictures of all the dishes, but my fellow dinners go a little impatient and chowed down before I could get most of the pictures.)

The Beginning: 

4:22pm:

I am walking up to Vij's. Way to early to actually eat but they don't take reservations and people start lining up at 4:30. By 5 it is going to be chaos. So, I'm there early. 

The first thing I see is the outside. Obviously. The attached restaurant (same owner but not as highly rated and different in style) is busy and loud. It is sunny out so the patio is pretty full. 

When I get to Vij's patio, I sit on one of the small stools around one of the two small water features. They are pretty. The elephant on each side of the concrete is a little odd but the roses are beautiful. 

Then I notice a fish. There are lots of fish in the water but there is one on top and in center. I think it's dead. It's twitching though. So I'm not sure. 

I move the roses aside. It is, in fact, dead. I'm not Sherlock Holmes but from the looks of it, he got run over by a rose and it pushed him sort of up and onto the light. The sun, the air or just plain fear at not being able to move got him from there. 

Thinking about how if I owned a restaurant, I definitely would not want a dead fish to be the first thing my customers would see. Unless it was a beautifully prepared fish on a plate.

I poked my head in the doorway and when someone came by I let them know. She let out a small chuckle. Not so much because the fish was dead, I think, so much as that I had told her. But whatever. 

5:00pm: 

There is almost no one here. This is so weird! Last time we came here we got here at 5p.m. and didn't make it in the door because there were already too many people here. Today there are 3 groups of two. Where is everyone?

Well, I guess it is Thursday. Not a major date night. Last time was a Friday night. 

The waitress just brought out a drink menu to ask if we'd like anything to drink. I said no. 

Some time has passed and with it, it has brought more people. There are now almost 10 more people. 

There should be more seats, I think. Or remove the grey, plastic stools and put in concrete benches. It would probably fit more people and they wouldn't have to worry about people breaking the stools or taking them. Not that I suspect that happens often. 

People are sitting on the water features and it doesn't seem comfortable. There are also people standing. There aren't that many people here yet either.

5:20pm:

The other people I am dining with finally arrive.

5:30pm:

We are seated first and shortly after things start circulating.

First there are fries. They're okay. Mostly they taste like your average fries with a little bit of chili powder. There was also pakora, which is fabulous. There is also a chutney and mung beans thing on  a cracker. I don't know what it is, but its good.

Everyone gets Chai tea. It is very good. Not too sweet and nice and warm. I order pear juice, which is good but a little sweet on its own.

5:45pm:

We order a few dishes and appetizers to get a taste for everything.

6:22pm:

Appetizers arive.

Acorn Squash and Beets: A little too sweet for me, but  not  bad. 6/10
Chick Peas with Ricotta and Sweet Potato Cookies: Amazing! At least, the cookies were. The curry was also quite good. 9/10
Samosas: Not bad, not a major lamb fan but it wasn't overwhelming. Good crunch, not too greasy. 7/10

6:51pm:

Dinner arrives.

Pork Tenderloin: Good. Charred very nicely. Even none pork fan in the group really liked it. 8/10
Lamb Popsicle: I didn't try these myself, not a lamb fan as I said. However, the lamb eaters in the group liked it. And the curry it was on top of was good on its own. 8/10
Koftes: Very good as well. Crispy not greasy and very flavorful. 9/10
Chicken: Good. Tomatoes were a nice touch and I'm a big fan of green onions in dishes.

The Chicken and Kofte curries were relatively similar. As were the Pork and Lamb curries, while the pork curry had a stronger lemon flavor and spinach.

7:20pm:

Paid the bill.

Overall: They paid good attention to allergies. Went to the chef and made sure things were safe for everyone in the group. They also had very good service.

Total: 9/10